More Results

As a result of effective pretrial strategies, misdemeanor-level average daily jail population has been reduced by over 50% while misdemeanor-level admissions have been reduced by over 60%.

The county has increased supportive services and material supports to justice involved individuals. For example, justice-involved individuals represented by the Office of the Public Defender and requiring a chemical dependency evaluation typically receive one within 10-12 days, with a shorter timeframe for in-custody defendants.

As a result of increased efficiencies in case processing, on average, time from initial appearance in Missoula County Justice Court to arraignment in Missoula County District Court has been reduced by one week.

There is productive collaboration among key stakeholders, including judges, law enforcement, public defenders, community members, and many others, who support the county’s efforts to make the local justice system fairer and more equitable. Key stakeholders are routinely seeking data to inform their understanding of the local justice system, and data is playing an increasingly prominent role in decision-making.

The county has also created deep relationships with individuals, community groups, and elected officials who are engaged in conversations and decision-making related to the local justice system. The creation of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council has also resulted in a significant increase in the participation of community partners in tackling justice system problems.

In the wake of the national protests and reckoning for the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota, Missoula community members are increasingly engaged in understanding racial and ethnic disparities present in the judicial system. Their activism led to the Missoula City Council and Missoula County Commissioners to provide critical funding to the development of a Mobile Crisis Unit—a non-law enforcement responder team for people dealing with mental health and substance use related crisis situations.

Remaining Challenges

Missoula County is focused on addressing its remaining challenges in its local justice system.

COVID-19 has highlighted the significant need for supportive services and effective community supervision resources in Missoula County, as it dramatically changed the composition of the jail population and underscored the overrepresentation of Native Americans in the jail. As a result, the county’s strategies have been updated to respond to both long-standing and newly identified challenges.

To address the long-standing and new challenges, Missoula County is moving forward with a number of strategies. These include creating a community-supported release program; expanding the use of court hearing reminders; funding a dually-licensed social worker to conduct chemical dependency and mental health evaluations for Probation and Parole; improving trust in and reliability of the Public Safety Assessment; ensuring conditions of release imposed correspond to the appropriate risk level; improving the pretrial supervision drug testing policy to support success of supervised individuals; funding a Native American Peer Support Specialist within the Office of the Public Defender; creating a dashboard focusing on identifying specific racial and ethnic disparities at key decision points in the justice system; and reviewing and ensuring that criminal justice policies are equitable from paper to practice.